shackles
The air in the flower hall of the Su Mansion seemed to have frozen into ice after Xu Xianyue said, "The fight will not stop until one dies."
Xu Xianyue didn't leave immediately. She stood in the hall, her figure as slender as a solitary bamboo, her gaze calmly fixed on the pale, yet forcedly composed, noblewoman in the main seat. A silent, intense aura clashed between the two, eclipsing the surrounding luxurious furnishings.
Madam Su, Su Momiao, her chest heaved violently. Her well-maintained, yet now slightly trembling, hands gripped the armrests of the rosewood chair tightly, her nails practically digging into the wood. Xu Xianyue's directness and ruthlessness had completely exceeded her expectations. She had assumed she was just an orphan with some skill and luck, someone who could crush her like an ant. But she hadn't expected the ant to sprout fangs, bite back, and pierce her vitals!
"There is no evidence... Stop slandering me!" Su Mo Miao's voice was barely perceptible and sharp, and she looked fierce but was actually weak.
Xu Xianyue ignored her denial, merely tilting her head slightly. Her cold gaze, like a scalpel, dissected the fear and... unwillingness hidden beneath her forced composure. She suddenly took a few steps forward, not in a pressing manner, but more like a scrutiny, her gaze sweeping over the room filled with jewels, silks, and satins.
"Madam Su," she began, her voice still calm, yet strangely penetrating. "This house full of wealth, this honor of being the richest man in Lin'an, has been trodden on the bones of so many people, stained with the blood and tears of so many people. At night... have you ever slept peacefully?"
Su Mo Miao shuddered, as if these words had pierced her most hidden pain point! She suddenly raised her head, and her eyes instantly burst into a fierce look mixed with anger, humiliation, and a kind of madness that came from having its disguise exposed!
"What do you know?!" She practically roared, her long-suppressed emotions like a flood that broke through a dam, sweeping away her noble lady's demeanor. "You think I'm willing?! Do you think I was born to be calculating, to love fighting, to turn myself into a money-grubbing, ruthless, vicious woman?!"
She stood up, and because of excitement, the red-gold hairpin on her head shook violently, reflecting her face which was distorted with anger.
"Xu Xianyue! You're so noble! You're amazing! Just because you have a great skill, you can be detached from the world. What freedom, what peace!" She pointed at Xu Xianyue, her fingers turning white from the force. "But what about us?! What about us women who are trapped in the backyard, with no control over our own fate?!"
Her voice was tearful, yet filled with deep hatred.
"I, Su Mo Miao, married into the Su family at the age of sixteen. My husband was a sickly child and passed away within three years! He left behind a huge family business, surrounded by wolves! The uncles and aunts in the clan are eyeing me covetously, and the merchants outside are taking advantage of my misfortune! I don't fight, I don't compete, I'm not ruthless, and what awaits me is to be eaten up and kicked out! I may even die in an unclear manner!"
She walked towards Xu Xianyue step by step, her luxurious skirt lingering on the ground, as if dragging a heavy shackle.
"How do you think you got all this luxury? Did you kneel down for it? Did you beg for it? No! You fought for it! You robbed it! You used scheming, trickery, and that 'woman's perspective' that everyone despises, to snatch it from men bit by bit!"
She stopped in front of Xu Xianyue. They were so close that they could clearly see the emotions surging in each other's eyes. Su Momiao's eyes were filled with burning rage and years of grief, while Xu Xianyue's were like a calm ice lake with a hint of... barely perceptible compassion.
"You men can study for the imperial examinations, build careers, and have three wives and four concubines! But what about us? We're trapped in this square house for our entire lives, our entire lives of honor and disgrace, success and failure, all tied to one man! When our husbands die, we have to guard the chastity archway, or be sold off like merchandise by our families! Why?!"
Su Mo Miao's voice became louder and louder, with a tearful accusation:
"I won't! I just want to seize this wealth! I want to seize this power! I want to make all those who have looked down on me and wanted to trample on me kneel at my feet! I want my daughter to no longer have to be like me, dependent on others and having a drifting fate!"
She suddenly grabbed Xu Xianyue's arm with astonishing strength. Her nails painted with nail polish almost dug into Xu Xianyue's flesh. Her eyes were fanatical and paranoid. "Xu Xianyue, tell me! Apart from this path, how else can we women survive?! In this cannibalistic world, other than becoming more cruel and stronger than them, what other way do we have?!"
Her questioning was like a heavy hammer, hitting the silent flower hall and also hitting Xu Xianyue's heart.
Xu Xianyue didn't struggle, merely silently watching the maddened woman before her. She saw the overwhelming hatred in Su Momiao's eyes, and beneath that hatred, the bottomless sorrow and despair. This was a woman driven to despair by time and fate, who chose to take up the butcher knife, ultimately becoming the very thing she hated.
She is pitiful and sad.
"So," Xu Xianyue finally spoke, her voice soft, but it doused Su Momiao's raging anger like ice water, "You've become like them? Using their rules and methods to oppress those weaker than you? Like me?"
Su Mo Miao loosened the grip on her arm a little, and her eyes were dazed for a moment.
Xu Xianyue slowly but firmly pulled her arm free. She looked at Su Momiao, her eyes as clear as fresh snow, filled with an almost divine compassion and... a resolute detachment.
"Madam Su, I cannot sympathize with your experience, but I can perhaps understand a little bit." Her tone was calm and unwavering. "It is true that this world is unfair to women. But..."
She changed the subject, her eyes sharp as a knife: "This is not a reason for you to transfer your pain to others, to wantonly plunder and trample on other people's lives!"
"You keep saying you're doing this for survival, for your daughter." Xu Xianyue stepped closer. Although he was not as tall as Su Momiao, his aura completely overwhelmed her. "But your survival is built on the corpses of countless 'Xu Xianyues'? Is your daughter's future going to be paved with the blood and tears of countless innocent people?!"
"You thought you'd broken free from your chains?" Xu Xianyue looked at her, each word a final judgment. "No, you simply replaced them with a heavier, dirtier pair, locking yourself firmly in the abyss of hatred and desire!"
Su Mo Miao was so shocked by her words that she stepped back repeatedly, her face pale as paper, her lips trembling. She wanted to refute, but found that she couldn't say a word. Xu Xianyue's words were like a mirror, reflecting the ugliness and emptiness deep in her heart that she didn't even want to face.
"You asked me how else to live besides this path?" Xu Xianyue stood before her, his posture erect. The plain orchid on his lapel emitted a faint but tenacious glow in the dim light. "I'll tell you now."
Her voice was clear and firm, echoing in the empty hall:
"I, Xu Xianyue, do not rely on my father, brother, or husband. I rely only on my own hands. My fingers are stained with silk and dye, not blood and copper. I feel at peace and I sleep peacefully every night."
“No matter how bad the world is, there is always a glimmer of hope for those souls who refuse to surrender and refuse to go along with the tide of corruption.”
"Your path is your own choice. But no one can stop me, and no one can destroy me."
After saying this last sentence, Xu Xianyue no longer looked at Su Mo Miao, who was in a daze and seemed to have lost all his strength in an instant. He turned around and resolutely left this gorgeous cage built of wealth and desire.
Su Momiao was the only one left in the flower hall, slumped on the cold floor, her gorgeous dress spread out like a withered peony. She stared in the direction where Xu Xianyue had disappeared, the initial madness and hatred in her eyes fading, leaving only endless confusion and... a belated, cold tear slid across her carefully painted face.
Xu Xianyue's words were like a key that opened the door of her heart that had been closed for a long time, revealing the truth that had long been rotten and smelly.
She defeated all her opponents and gained the wealth and power that countless people dream of.
But why...she just felt that she had lost miserably?
Outside the window, the sky is getting darker and darker, and a bigger storm is brewing.
Xu Xianyue walked out of the vermilion gate of the Su Mansion, looked up at the gray sky, and gently brushed away the non-existent dust on her clothes.
The shackles are heavy, but the bright moon in her heart is still hanging high.
Wherever the clear light reaches, there will be a smooth path for her.
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